Container for manure

ABSTRACT

A method of farming comprises collecting waste material such as manure from animal farming, or effluent from food processing plants or the like in a closed container, stirring and aerating the material within the container and adding yeast and phosphoric acid to increase aerobic bacterial activity while reducing anaerobic bacteria and rendering the material into a pumpable liquid. The collected manure is stored in a cylindrical container having a plastics liner and roof and is used as a fire suppressant material for dowsing fires in the farm buildings by providing a pump and hose on the container or hydrant located adjacent to the buildings.

This application is a continuation-in-part application of applicationSer. No. 08/247,664 filed May 23, 1994 now abandonment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a container for manure for use in a farmingmethod using waste material containing organic matter.

Waste material or effluent which contains organic materials, such asthat from intensive animal farming operations, food processing plantsand city sewage, constitutes a serious problem in that in largequantities the material is toxic and in that the material can give offnoxious fumes. Disposal of such materials is therefore difficult and thedevelopment of such materials from the operation can inhibit theinstallation of new plants to carry out such processing.

Usually such waste material is stored in a lagoon which is simply ahollowed open area into which the material is pumped to allow settlingof the solid matter to the bottom of the lagoon and dispersal of theliquid and gas content by evaporation. Periodically it is necessary toremove the settled solids and these are often simply dumped into an openfield. The continuous evaporation of the liquid acts to discharge intothe air noxious gases which leads to environmental pollution which isbecoming politically unacceptable. The lagoon can also leak so as tocause contamination of the ground water.

One problem relating to manure handling, therefore, is that of storingthe manure in a suitable container. Cylindrical containers havepreviously been manufactured but generally these are formed from highcost coated panels and are open at the top so that the noxious gasesproduced in the anaerobic bacterial action are released to theatmosphere.

It is also known in Europe that such containers should be manufacturedusing a metal wall with a plastic liner. On top of the container soformed is attached a roof structure of a plurality of transverse trussescovered by a layer of plastic with a vent opening to release excesspressure. However this structure is expensive and thus resisted byproducers used to the low cost lagoon.

A further problem in regard to farm buildings particularly for animalhusbandry in which manure is produced is that of fire in the buildingswhich can occur in any of the electrical or heating equipment in thebuildings and is difficult to dowse due to the remote location of thefarm which delays the arrival of the fire fighters and makes difficultthe supply of sufficient water under pressure for dowsing the fire.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is one object of the present invention, therefore, to provide animproved container for manure.

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided acontainer for manure comprising: a base foundation defining a horizontalsupport surface; a cylindrical wall surrounding a vertical axis andmounted on the horizontal support surface so as to be upstandingtherefrom and having an open top; the base foundation comprising aconcrete ring defining an annular upper surface forming said horizontalsupport surface with an area inside the ring being free from concrete;and a plastics liner laid across the area inside the ring, over the ringand on an inside surface of the wall so as to render the containerimpervious to liquid for containing the manure therein.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a system available tofarmers to allow ready dowsing of any fire which may arise in farmbuildings associated with animal husbandry.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided acontainer for manure comprising: a cylindrical wall surrounding avertical axis and mounted on a horizontal support surface so as to beupstanding therefrom and having an open top; lining means on an insidesurface of the wall so as to render the wall impervious to liquid forcontaining the manure therein; a cover assembly for the open top; a pumpfor extracting manure from the tank; and a jet nozzle arranged to besupplied with the manure under pressure and arranged to spread themanure onto a building adjacent the container for dowsing a fire in thebuilding.

According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided anapparatus for dowsing a fire in farm buildings comprising: at least onebuilding housing animals producing manure; a container for receiving andcontaining the manure including a cylindrical wall surrounding avertical axis and mounted on a horizontal support surface so as to beupstanding therefrom and having an open top, lining means on an insidesurface of the wall so as to render the wall impervious to liquid forcontaining the manure therein and a cover assembly for the open top; apump for extracting manure from the tank; and a jet nozzle arranged tobe supplied with the manure under pressure and arranged to spread themanure onto the building adjacent the container for dowsing a fire inthe building.

One embodiment of the invention will now be described in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of the farming system according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of the operation of the farmingsystem on the ground and the crop residue thereon.

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of a machine for spreading the wastematerials.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the central vehicle portion of the machineof FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of one boom of the vehicle of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is an exploded schematic isometric view of the closed containerfor receiving the waste material.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the different figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In FIG. 1 is shown an overview of the farming method according to thepresent invention which comprises an intensive farming system orprocessing system generally indicated at 10 which produces effluent orwaste material on a discharge duct 11 for supplying to a storagecontainer 12. In one example intensive farming process comprises a hogbarn in which mostly liquid manure is released from a flooringcollection system for discharge through the duct 11 to a liquid storagecontainer or slurry tank 12. The storage container can be of anysuitable type including a metal container of the type formed fromcorrugated metal panels similar to a grain bin, a concrete pit or thelike which is preferably covered by a closed roof 13 which contains theliquid and any gases escaping from the liquid surface. Within thecontainer is provided a stirring system schematically indicated at 14which maintains the waste material mixed to ensure that solids remain insuspension. An aerator is schematically indicated at 15 for injectingair into the stored liquid waste material for purposes of aeration. Thedetails of the air injection system are not shown as these will be wellknown to one skilled in the art. In addition a solids injection systemis indicated at 16 for injecting various solids including yeast,additive compound such as micro nutrients and phosphoric acid asdiscussed hereinafter.

The construction of the container is shown schematically in FIG. 6. Thiscomprises an annular footing 60 which can be floating or (as shown)mounted on piles 61. On top of the footing is mounted a container wall62 formed of corrugated panels 63 which are bolted together to form acylindrical wall standing on the footing. The wall is of the typeconventionally used for a grain bin and is manufactured of structuralmembers and the corrugated panels with sufficient structural strength toaccommodate the weight and forces from the liquid waste to be containedtherein.

Within the wall 62 is provided a liner 64 of a suitable plasticsmaterial. This can be spray coated onto the interior of the wall or morepreferably is formed as a skin which is laid across the open ground 65inside the annular footing 60 and extends up the wall 62 to a top edge66. The liner is attached to the wall either mechanically or using anadhesive layer 67 which is applied onto the liner 64 on the outsidesurface thereof at the areas thereof engaging the wall 62 so as toaffect a bonding between the liner and the wall. A roof structurecomprises a central tubular post 68 sitting on a pad 69 mounted on theground 65 centrally of the angular footing. The post carries an innerend of a plurality of radially extending trusses 70, 71 which extendoutwardly into engagement with a structural member at a top edge of thewall 62. Over the trusses is stretched a circular fabric cover 72 with alower edge bead 73 which engages with a suitable attachment 73A aroundthe upper edge of the wall in a sealing action. Thus the container iseffectively fully sealed by the liner 64 and the fabric cover 72 toprevent any escape of gases from the container. A vent opening 74 isprovided covered with a flap valve 74A in the form of a simple rubbersheet to release some gases in the event of significant over pressure toprevent damage to the structure. A structure without the post can alsobe used using trusses extending across the container from the side walltaking the full load of the fabric cover. The trusses 70 are formed ofstainless steel to prevent corrosion in the corrosive gases. The fabricis formed or coated with a suitable impermeable plastics material toprevent escape of the gases and to resist the corrosive effect of thegases. The use of the fabric cover also allows some expansion of thegases due to temperature changes which can be accommodated by slightlifting of the fabric. In the event that the expansion is greater thancan be safely accommodated by the lifting of the fabric, the flap valve74A lifts to release over pressure through the opening 74.

A discharge pump is schematically indicated at 17 for discharging theliquid material from the container 12 along a temporary pipe line 18which can be formed of a number of segments connected at junctions 20 orcan be a continuous irrigation hose wound on a reel. Temporary piping ofthis nature can be installed relatively quickly over an extensive lengthto an outlet location 21 which constitutes a central supply point fordischarging the material from the container 12 over a number of strips22, 23 of a field 24 on which the material is to be sprayed.

The material is sprayed onto the strips of the field 22, 23 etc. by aspray vehicle shown schematically in FIG. 1 at 25 and shown in moredetail in FIG. 3, 4 and 5. The spray vehicle comprises a vehicle frame26 mounted on ground wheels 27 for movement across the ground. Thevehicle is relatively large having a width of the central vehicleportion of the order of 10 feet and a length of the order of 25 feet.The vehicle portion carries a large reel 28 on which is wound a pipe 29,a trailing portion 29A which extends from the reel across the field tothe discharge location 21. In one example the diameter of the reel is ofthe order of 13 feet and the length of the pipe is of the order of 1320feet (500 meters) of a diameter of 3-4 inches (12 cms). Also on thevehicle frame is mounted an engine 30 for generating hydraulic power forcommunication to the four independent drive wheels 27. The details ofthe drive communication system are not shown as these are well known toone skilled in the art. A cab 31 is mounted at the front of the framefor receiving the driver for controlling the direction and operation ofthe waste material discharge machine 25. An inner end of the pipe 29 isconnected to a swivel coupling 32 at which is attached a pipe 33 forcommunication to a supplementary drive pump 34 driven by the engine 30.The pump 34 drives the material along supply lines 35 and 36 of two boomelements 37 and 38 respectively. The pipes 35 and 36 each carry aplurality of discharge nozzles 39, 40. The discharge nozzle 39 of theboom 38 are shown as spray nozzles and this is preferred for evenlyspraying the liquid across the ground. The discharge openings 40 of theboom 37 are shown as simple vertical discharge pipes and these can beused for row crops in a situation where the machine is used afterplanting for discharge of the liquid onto the ground between the rows ofthe planted crop.

The boom elements are mounted on the frame for lifting and twistingmovements by hydraulic cylinders 41, 42 which allow the boom elements tobe folded along side the sides of the vehicle during transportation andto effect raising and lowering of the boom elements as required toaccommodate changes in ground level.

Preferably the boom elements have a combined width of 100 to 150 feet.Discharge of the liquid material onto the ground at a rate in the range1000 to 5000 gallons per acre can thus be effected at a rate of 3 to 7acres per hour. Such a discharge rate enables the discharge of a typicalcontainer having 300,000 gallons within a period of 10 to 20 hours.

The construction of the boom is shown only schematically as this canvary in accordance with design requirements.

Turning now to FIG. 2, the process in its operation in relation to thematerial on the ground is shown schematically.

In the process, the waste material to be discharged can comprise manurefrom a hog plant, manure or effluent from a sewage plant or other mainlyliquid material containing organic materials such as effluent from avegetable or meat processing plant. The material is arranged by additionof liquid to be mostly liquid and of sufficiently liquid nature to bepumpable through the pipeline and through the pipe 29A to the boom andthe spray nozzles. For this purpose a solids content less than 8% isgenerally required.

The treatment of the liquid material in the container includes thefollowing:

1) aeration by injection of aeration air from the injector 15 to promoteaerobic bacterial action and to reduce anaerobic bacterial action. It isknown that the anaerobic bacterial action generates production ofnoxious fumes which become unacceptable to surrounding persons notconnected with the production site.

2) Addition of phosphorous compound or phosphoric acid. This additionacts to stabilize the nitrogen content within the liquid by locking inthe ammonia. In particular, the addition of phosphoric acid to ammoniagenerates ammonium phosphate which is a stable compound widely used as afertilizer.

3) The addition of a yeast which can preferably be a recycled beer yeastand this acts to break down the solids from the manure to increase theliquid content and render the liquid pumpable.

4) The stirring action by the stirrer 14 which maintains the materialsmixed to effect the above action on the materials.

5) The addition of water if required to reduce the solids content to alevel in the range 5 to 8% which provides the pumpable mixture.Generally the addition of yeast to break down the solids is preferred toavoid the addition of further water which may not be readily available.

6) The addition by the injector 16 of micro nutrients or other additiveswhich are selected in accordance with requirements for the particularfield 24 to be covered with the materials. Thus, as the present methodis intended as a fertilization system, the required content of thefertilizer can be manipulated to match the requirements of the field asassessed by analysis of the soil in well known manner.

As shown in FIG. 2, a standing crop is indicated at 40 and this is cutby a conventional cutting action indicated schematically at 41. Thecutting action schematically indicated at 41 may comprise any suitabletechnique for chopping the crop residue into short lengths of preferablytwo inches maximum length and at the same time breaking the stems of thecrop residue to expose the inner material. Such an action can beeffected by a separate mowing process carried out after harvesting orcan be effected by use of an effective chopper and spreading action onthe combine harvester. It is necessary in addition that the crop residueor trash be spread evenly across the ground.

The crop residue in evenly spread chopped condition is thereforeindicated at 42. The boom element 37 is shown in FIG. 2 passing over theground on which the evenly spread crop residue is shown. The wastematerial is discharged in a spray pattern from the nozzles 39 onto thecrop residue in even manner determined by the spray pattern of thenozzles and the spacing of the nozzles. The liquid manure is thusaccurately broadcast onto the fields at a regulated flow rate in therange 1000 gallons per acre to 5000 gallons per acre. Simultaneouslywith the spraying of the manure is provided a second spray line 53 withspray nozzles 54 arranged for spraying a liquid oxidizing agent such ashydrogen peroxide onto the trash and the manure. The hydrogen peroxideor oxidizing agent is preferably sprayed at a rate in the range twoliters to five liters per cubic meter of straw or crop residue. TheHydrogen peroxide rate identified above relates to 130 volumeconcentration and the man skilled in the art will of course be able tocalculate modified rates for different concentrations of the oxidizingagent. The oxidizing agent acts to further decompose the outerprotective shell of the crop residue and acts to accelerate aerobicbacterial and fungal attack on the crop residue. Furthermore theoxidizing agent effectively eradicates any anaerobic bacteria remainingin the manure so as to inhibit or prevent the generation of noxiousgases, such as methane and hydrogen sulfide, which are a resultant ofthe anaerobic bacterial activity. Thus the previous treatment asexplained above of the manure in conjunction with the addition of theoxidizing agent at the point of application of manure to the groundcooperate in preventing the generation of the free ammonia whichconstitutes the objectionable smell associated with the manure. Inaddition the simultaneous spraying of the oxidizing agent and the manuresignificantly increases the rate of bacterial and fungal attack on thecrop residue since the manure brings high levels of aerobic bacteria andfungus to the mixture to assist in breaking down the crop residue.

The rapid action of the decomposition is important as this fertilizer,that is the combination of the manure and the crop residue, is appliedonto the fields prior to seeding or after seeding and constitutes areplacement for the commercial fertilizer otherwise used. In cases wherethe manure is applied after seeding, the oxidizing agent is omitted toavoid damaging the crops and since in most cases it is not required toeffect break down of the straw. Application after seeding is thereforelikely to be limited to areas where the release of some smells does notconstitute an environmentally unacceptable situation.

To achieve the rapid decomposition, the crop residue and stubble must bein contact with the liquid manure and accordingly the even spread of thecrop residue across the ground is highly important and in addition it isnecessary to apply equally an even spread of the manure.

As shown in FIG. 2, the oxidizing agent is preferably sprayed from thesame boom as the waste material but is sprayed onto the ground inadvance of the waste material. This allows the agent to engage the strawin advance of the waste material and thus minimizes the required rate to1-2 liters per cubic meter of straw. In the alternative, the oxidizingagent can be sprayed from a separate nozzle at the same location as thenozzle 39 to reach the straw simultaneously with the waste material, butin this case the rate must be increased to the order of 5 liters.

Subsequent to the application of the manure and the oxidizing agent, thetrash and manure is then incorporated into the soil to a maximum depthof two inches. This is illustrated schematically at 55. Theincorporation can be effected by any conventional cultivation equipmentsuch as a harrow, a cultivator sweep as illustrated at 56 or a hoe. Theincorporation is effected as soon as possible after completion of thespraying of the material and generally within 24 hours. Incorporation toa depth greater than two inches will significantly inhibit or delay thedecomposition due to the absence or the exclusion of oxygen which isnecessary for the aerobic bacterial activity.

The method according to the present invention, therefore, has a numberof major advantages.

1) It disposes of the liquid manure or other liquid effluent which isotherwise problematic.

2) It disposes of the crop residue which also can in some cases beproblematic.

3) The disposal of both of the above materials is effected in a mannerwhich generates an improved organic fertilization system. Thus reducingthe necessity for other types of fertilizer.

4) The process is effected using equipment specifically designed for thetask which enables the application of the manure to be effected rapidlyand economically.

In addition to the farming techniques described herein before and thestructure of the container described herein before, the present systemalso provides for the farmer involved in animal husbandry a system fordousing or extinguishing fires that may arise in the associatedbuildings.

Thus in FIG. 1 the farming system includes the container 12 which isassociated with the farm buildings 10 which relate to the animalhusbandry system. Additional farm buildings 10A are also included on thesite which may or may not be involved directly in containing the animalsproducing the manure for containing in the container 12.

The present inventors have realized that the manure, if maintained inthe proper condition set forth herein before in the container as definedherein before can be used for dousing or extinguishing fires in theadjacent animal husbandry and related buildings. Thus as shown in FIGS.1 and 6, the container 12 has a platform 100 located at one part of itsperiphery adjacent the top edge of the wall. The platform 100 is reachedby a ladder system 101. It will be appreciated that in a practicalsystem, the wall may reach up to 35 feet in height and hence theplatform is raised to a significant height from the ground .

On the platform is mounted a rotatable pipe 102 which is connected tothe pump 17 by a hose 103. Attached to the pipe 102 is a nozzle 104which can direct the manure from the container through the pump 17 athigh pressure as a jet of the manure to be spread over the adjacent farmbuildings 10. In the event that any fire arises, therefore, the fullvolume of the liquid manure, maintained in the liquid condition asdescribed herein before is available for pumping onto the fire to dousethe flames at a relatively early stage. The fire fighters are thereforenot limited by the significant distance which is generally a problem inrural areas and by the unavailability of a supply of suitable dousingliquid.

In addition the manure has a high level of dousing effect due to thehigh solids content which reduces the evaporation, with the solidsgenerally being incombustible in the liquid suspension.

In addition to the jet nozzle 104, a second jet nozzle 105 withassociated stand pipe 106 can be located at a remote position relativeto the container coupled by a longer hose 107 so that the jet nozzle 105can apply the same manure from the pump 17 to associated but remotebuildings 10A.

The present system therefore provides the advantage to the farmer ofrapid dousing of fires which can and do regularly occur in a normalhusbandry operations causing large scale damage and often unpleasantdeath of the contained animals. In addition the availability of a rapidfire extinguishing system can reduce insurance costs which are heavilybased upon this high fire risk.

Since various modifications can be made in my invention as herein abovedescribed, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same madewithin the spirit and scope of the claims without departing from suchspirit and scope, it is intended that all matter contained in theaccompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only andnot in a limiting sense.

We claim:
 1. Apparatus for dowsing a fire in farm buildingscomprising:at least one building housing animals producing manure; acontainer for receiving and containing the manure including acylindrical wall surrounding a vertical axis and mounted on a horizontalsupport surface so as to be upstanding therefrom, and a liner on aninside surface of the wall so as to render the wall impervious to themanure therein; a duct system for transferring the manure from thebuilding to the container for storage therein a pump for extractingmanure from the tank; and a jet nozzle arranged to be supplied with themanure under pressure and arranged to spread the manure onto a buildingadjacent the container for dowsing a fire in the building.
 2. Theapparatus according to claim 1 wherein the nozzle is mounted on thecontainer at a location raised from the ground so as to allow spreadingof the manure directly from the container onto the building.
 3. Thecontainer according to claim 1 wherein the nozzle is mounted on an endof a hose for transporting the manure from the container and forspreading the manure through the nozzle onto the building.